Gerald Isaac "Jerry" Stiller (born June 8, 1927) is an American comedian and actor.

He spent many years in the comedy team Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara. Stiller and Meara are the parents of actor Ben Stiller (with whom he co-starred in the movies Zoolander, Heavyweights, Hot Pursuit, and The Heartbreak Kid) and actress Amy Stiller. Stiller played Frank Costanza on the television series Seinfeld, and Arthur Spooner on The King of Queens.

Biography

The eldest of four children, Stiller was born in Unity Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, to Bella (née Citron) (1902-1954) and William Stiller (1896-1999), a bus driver. His family was of Polish Jewish descent. His paternal grandparents immigrated from Galicia, and his mother was born in Poland. He lived in the Williamsburg and East New York neighborhoods before his family moved to the Lower East Side, where he attended Seward Park High School.

A drama major at Syracuse University, he earned a Bachelor's degree in Speech and Drama in 1950. In the 1953 Phoenix Theater production of Coriolanus (produced by John Houseman), Stiller (along with Gene Saks and Jack Klugman) formed "the best trio of Shakespearian clowns that [he] had ever seen on any stage."


Family
He was married to Anne Meara from 1954 until her death on May 23, 2015. They are the parents of actor-comedian Ben Stiller (1965) and actress Amy Stiller (1961).

Best films